


Defeating the Dragon

by Kittens



Category: Kylux Adjacent - Fandom, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Fluff, M/M, but it's okay now, dragon matt, no one has ever been nice to matt or techie before
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-09
Updated: 2019-08-09
Packaged: 2020-08-13 11:55:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,445
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20173834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kittens/pseuds/Kittens
Summary: Techie's village has sent him to defeat the dragon that's been terrorizing them. He knows he can't win in a fight, but the dragon is definitely not what he expects, so maybe there's another way for him to win.





	Defeating the Dragon

**Author's Note:**

> For week 5 of the KyluxXoXo Summer Fest using the prompts belt/cloud/cave!

There was a crowd gathered in the village center. Whether or not that was out of the ordinary, Techie wasn’t sure. He liked to avoid everyone as much as possible and very rarely ventured out when most others were active. It was one of the reasons he had such pale skin, but it was worth it as it meant he didn’t run into trouble often.

He wouldn’t have been outside at all that day except someone had offered him some wire in exchange for a few beads. Although Techie used the beads to make jewelry, he had far too many and he used the wire for other things. He’d always loved making things, and wire was his favorite thing to work with. It was a useless skill according to the rest of his village, but since he could also make things they deemed useful, they tolerated his presence.

Techie’s plan was to get back to his small cabin with his wire and not engage with anyone, but as usual, other people ruined his plans. He heard someone shouting his name, but he ignored it, hoping that maybe they’d give up, but he had no such luck. Someone grabbed him and he briefly looked up at the man before looking back at his feet.

“Hey, Techie,” the man said, “we got the perfect job for you.”

“Um, you can just come by my place later,” he mumbled, weakly trying to pull himself free. Unfortunately, the kind of work he preferred didn’t lend itself to physical strength. 

“This is more urgent,” the man said. He dragged Techie into the middle of the crowd and announced, “We got our volunteer!”

There were a few cheers and a lot of laughs and Techie looked around nervously, not sure what was going on, but no one explained anything. Someone handed him a knife in a sheath and another person tossed him an old cloak that didn’t smell too great.

“Brave Techie will go to the mountain and defeat the dragon!” One of the village leaders shouted out to the crowd, drawing more laughs. “Or maybe he’ll just get eaten, but it might satisfy him until we can find a proper hero!”

“Um, dragon?” Techie shook his head. He knew about the creature that had been terrorizing the area for the past few months. He’d never seen it, but he’d certainly heard about it. “I can’t fight a dragon!”

“You don’t have a choice,” the leader said, voice low. “If we have to lose someone else to that beast, it might as well be you. I don’t want to see you back here until that thing is no longer a threat.”

Techie didn’t argue, knowing that the man was serious and that he had little choice. He knew he was useless, so of course they wanted to get rid of him. But it didn’t mean he had to fight the dragon. Maybe he could find some other village that might take him in. The chances of that were slim, but it was still better going up against the dragon with nothing more than a knife and a little bit of wire. And it wasn’t as if anyone in the village expected to see him again.

He’d lived there for years - ever since he’d managed to escape the group of bandits that had forced him to work for them - and he really didn’t know where else he could go. There were a few other villages in the area but he didn’t think they’d take him in. He’d have to leave the area entirely.

As he left the village, he put the knife and wire on his belt and threw the cloak on over his shoulders. It would be his only protection from the cold, as he was only wearing loose pants and a thin yellow shirt. Once he was out of view of the village, he stopped trying to think of where he could go.

He’d heard tales of grand cities, where there were so many people no one would even notice him. Sometimes he thought it sounded nice but he’d never liked the idea of having tons of people around. Now that he had no where else to go, it seemed like his best option. But he had no idea where to go. 

Someone in another village might give him directions, but they might have the same idea as his own village to send him to the dragon as a distraction. And if he went there, eventually word would get around that he’d run away instead of facing the dragon. He’d rather his former village think he was dead instead of a coward.

Eventually, Techie decided his best option would be to get a look around at the surrounding area, and the only way he could do that would be to get to the top of a mountain. Maybe from there he’d be able to see where a city was. As he started into the mountains, he tried not to think about the fact that the dragon lived there too. 

Walking up a mountain was more difficult than anticipated and soon, it became dark. He didn’t know how far he’d come or how far he had left to go, but he knew he’d need to wait until morning. Unfortunately, it was starting to get very cold and Techie had no shelter. The best he could do was curl up under his cloak and hope that the temperature didn’t drop much further.

***

When Techie woke up, he was warm. It didn’t strike him as odd as he always liked to sleep under a pile of blankets. But then he remembered he hadn’t fallen asleep in his cabin. He’d fallen asleep in the forest on his way up the mountain. As he looked around, he realized he was inside a cave. He pushed away a blanket he knew he didn’t have the night before and stood up and looked around.

He was near enough to the cave entrance that he could see with the light streaming in, but he could also see that the cave went much further back. He really didn’t have much interest in trying to explore the cave, so instead, he headed towards the cave’s mouth. Maybe he was really close to wear he’d fallen asleep and sleep walked inside. That wouldn’t explain the extra blanket, but Techie tried not to think about that.

Once he looked outside, he realized that he definitely had not walked there, as there were clouds underneath him. He took a quick step back inside the cave, not sure how he could possibly have ended up so high in the mountains. 

He’d dreamed about strong arms picking him up and then flying, but he started to wonder if it hadn’t entirely been a dream. The flying part had to have been his imagination, but perhaps someone had found him and carried him into the cave, but he couldn’t imagine who would be in the mountains. And how could they have carried him so far?

Whoever had brought him to the cave wasn’t there and Techie still needed to figure out where he was going to go. As his stomach rumbled, he also realized he would need to find food as well. But since he was already so close to the top of the mountain - or at least, he thought he must be - he decided he’d go see if he could see anything from there.

As soon as he walked out of the cave, he jumped back and fell down. He hadn’t expected to see the very thing he’d been sent to the mountains for right outside. Techie also hadn’t expected the dragon to have beautiful golden scales, but he didn’t have time to think about that or how there were shades of red and orange in the scales as the sun reflected off of them. That wasn’t nearly as important as escaping the encounter alive.

“You’re awake,” a voice said, and it took Techie a moment to realize that it was coming from the dragon. The large creature took a step forward and leaned his long neck down towards him.

“Please don’t eat me!” Techie blurted out. 

“What?” The dragon pulled away slightly. “I’m not… I don’t do that.”

“You don’t?” Techie finally managed to look at the dragon, although he quickly looked away. He knew a lot of people didn’t like his eyes and he had no idea if a dragon would feel the same. Unnaturally bright is what everyone said about them.

“I’m Matt.”

It took Techie a moment to realize that the dragon was introducing himself. “Oh! I… My name’s Techie. Um, Matt? Do you know how I got here?”

“Sorry about that,” the dragon said and Techie almost thought he sounded embarassed. “I found you last night and you looked so cold so I brought you here, but I can take you back if you want!”

“No!” Techie nearly shouted. “I don’t… I don’t have anywhere to go.”

“Are you lost?”

“No,” he said shaking his head. “Um. My village sent me away. To um. To kill you. But I promise I’m not going to try anything! I couldn’t even if I wanted to!”

There was a low rumbling sound and Techie thought that Matt was angry and would kill him before he could try to hurt him. But the sound only grew louder and he never felt the bite of his teeth or a swipe of those large claws. Then Techie realized that Matt wasn’t angry. He was laughing. Just like the villagers. Even the dragon found him pathetic and laughable.

Techie was used to being laughed at. He wasn’t strong or good at anything useful. He wasn’t even someone that people just liked. His entire life, he’d just been that strange person that was a source of jokes for everyone else. It shouldn’t have affected him at all that one more person decided to laugh at him, especially since that person was a dragon, but he couldn’t help the tears that fell.

“Techie? What’s wrong? I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to upset you!” A large claw gently touched his cheek, wiping his tears away. Techie looked up, shocked. The dragon was trying to comfort him, and he was so gently. He never would have expected that from something the size of a dragon.

“I wasn’t laughing at you,” Matt said softly. “The villagers are idiots. I was laughing at them. How could they send their cutest person to me? They should have protected you at all costs.”

Techie blinked away his remaining tears. He didn’t even realize that Matt was talking about him. No one had ever talked about him like that. “Cute? Me?”

Matt showed some teeth but Techie knew it wasn’t a threat. It was a smile. “Definitely,” he said. 

“But you’re a dragon.”

“Not always,” Matt said. “I used to be human. But I made a deal with a sorcerer that didn’t go well and he turned me into a dragon. It’s really not all that bad. It’s kinda useful. And I can turn into a human again for a little while.”

“Really?” He never would have imagined that the dragon was once human and he was curious. “Can you show me?”

“I’m not sure,” Matt said. “I wouldn’t want to scare you off with the way I look. That’s why I got turned into a dragon. My human form is ugly and I wanted to change it. I guess I got what I asked for. But I don’t think you’d like it.”

“I would,” Techie said. “I promise. But you don’t have to show me if you don’t want.”

“No, I can show you. It’s the least I can do after I made you cry. But, uh. Just let me know if I’m too ugly to look at and I can turn back.”

Techie prepared for the worst as Matt’s dragon body started to shrink. The spikes along his back started to shrink away, as did his wings and tail. His talons also disappeared and it didn’t take long before they started to resemble human hands. As his neck started to shrink, his face also shortened and started to look more like a human face. 

As fluffy blond hair sprouted, Techie realized that Matt was very, very wrong. He couldn’t help but stare at Matt once he was fully human, certain he’d never seen someone quite like him. 

“I can turn back,” Matt said. As he spoke, he started to grow larger but Techie put a hand on his shoulder.

“No!” he cried. “Don’t. I… I like this. You’re beautiful.”

“You don’t have to lie,” Matt said. “I know I’m ugly.”

“No, you’re not. You’re the most beautiful person I’ve ever seen in my life. I don’t know who made you think you’re ugly, but they’re wrong.” Techie felt his cheeks heating up as he spoke and felt a little embarassed at his outburst but he had to say something. He couldn’t let Matt go on thinking he wasn’t the most gorgeous man on the planet.

“You’re the only one who thinks so, but thanks.” Matt smiled and he Techie couldn’t believe that he became even more beautiful. He also realized just how close he was to Matt, but he couldn’t bring himself to pull away. “Your eyes are amazing.”

“You… you really think so? Everyone else hates them.”

“Everyone else is wrong.”

“They are,” Techie said. “Especially about you.”

“They’re more wrong about you.” 

Before Techie could argue, his stomach rumbled again. Matt grabbed his hand and started pulling him back into the cave. “I have some food inside,” he explained.

As they walked into the cave, Techie was worried about his lack of ability to see but as they headed into the darkened areas, it started to light up. There were small lanterns along the side of the cave wall and Techie was fairly certain that Matt was using magic to light them. They made it into a large chamber and Matt put a blanket on the floor.

“Sorry I don’t have anything nicer,” Matt said. “Let me get some food.”

“No, this is nice,” Techie said as he sat down on the blanket. Matt soon joined him with a basket filled with food as well as a large bucket and some cups. He dipped a cup into the bucket to fill it with water and handed it to Techie.

The basket held meat, bread, and fruits and Techie just stared at it while taking a small sip of water, not sure if Matt really would just let him have whatever he wanted. After all, he was the dragon who’d been terrorizing the area. It was hard to believe he’d be so willing to share, although he really was much nicer than Techie could have imagined. Finally, Matt pushed some food towards him and Techie took it.

They continued talking as they ate, but mostly, they just kept complimenting each other. Techie really couldn’t help it. Not when he had someone like Matt in front of him. He also noticed that his lair had some decorations - not the gold that he thought all dragons had, but pieces of scrap metal and stones.

“I just like the shape of them,” Matt said with a shrug when Techie asked about them. “I know they’re not anything special, but they just remind me of things. My favorite is that one that kinda looks like a cat.”

He pointed to a chunk of iron that he had sitting on a ledge. It really did look like a cat and Techie smiled. The dragon really was different than anything he ever could have expected. Which made him wonder something else.

“Matt? Are you really the dragon that’s causing trouble in my village?” His old village, he corrected himself. He couldn’t go back there. Even if he had the ability to kill the dragon, he knew he could never hurt Matt.

“Uh, yeah,” he said looking away. “I didn’t really mean to. I just sorta got mad once and accidentally destroyed a building and now everyone keeps sending people up here trying to kill me and I don’t really have much of a choice but to defend myself.”

“Oh. Well, maybe if they don’t see you for a while, maybe they’ll think I succeeded.” Techie didn’t think that would happen, but he could hope. He hated the idea of people coming up and trying to kill Matt.

“Yeah. And if you want, I could take you back. If you wanted to go back to your village. I could fly you down at night so no one could see me.”

Techie shook his head. Even though it had been his home for years, he was glad he’d left and really didn’t want to go back. He knew where he wanted to be, but he wasn’t sure if Matt would be okay with that. “I don’t really want to go back,” he said. “I guess I don’t have anywhere else to go though. But I’ll figure it out.”

“You can stay here,” Matt offered immediately. “For as long as you want. I like you. And it gets lonely. Just as long as you don’t mind me being a dragon. I can only stay in this form for a few hours.”

“I don’t mind at all,” Techie said with a smile. He never wanted to leave Matt’s side. He was the only person he could rememeber that was nice to him. Still, he felt bad that he couldn’t offer Matt anything in return for his kindness, but as he looked around the cave, he remembered the wire on his belt and he got an idea.

That night, Techie curled up against Matt as the dragon slept. He was very warm and his scales were much softer than he’d expected. It made a nice place to snuggle up to as he started his work. Once it was finished, he closed his eyes and fell asleep against Matt.

In the morning, he almost forgot that he’d crafted a gift for Matt. He was still holding it in his hand, and he startled to full wakefulness very quickly, wanting to make sure he hadn’t damaged it in his sleep. There were a few areas that had gotten a little bent, but he was able to fix them quickly.

“Are you okay?” Matt mumbled from behind him, still sounding half asleep.

“Yeah,” Techie said. “Just checking on something.”

Matt opened an eye and Techie just sat there, feeling nervous about his gift. So far, Matt loved everything else about him that others didn’t like, but he couldn’t help but think Matt would say his craft was stupid. But he was holding it in his hand and it was too late to hide it.

“I made this for you,” Techie muttered as he held out the wire dragon sculpture to him. “I know it’s useless but I wanted to do something to thank you.”

“Techie, this is amazing!” He bent his head close so he could examine it and then very delicately poked it with a claw. “I’m going to need a special place for this one!”

He walked over to the wall and slashed at it with his claws and Techie saw that he made a shelf, just like the one his iron cat was on. “Can I pick you up?” Matt asked. “Just to put your art up on the wall. I don’t want to damage it.”

Techie nodded and Matt picked him up, lifting him gently towards the wall so he could put the small dragon up. Once it was in place, Matt set him down.

“Do you really like it?” Techie asked.

“Of course I do! It’s great! How could anyone not like it?”

“No one in the village liked them,” Techie mumbled. “They said they were useless. Like me.”

“I should go and burn the whole place to the ground! How dare they say such horrible things!”

“No, Matt! It’s okay, really! They aren’t very nice, but you don’t have to do anything like that. I have you now.”

“Yeah,” Matt agreed, calming down. “You do. And I have you.” He brought his head down so he could nuzzle Techie and he couldn’t help but smile and rub his hand over his head. 

Techie realized he should probably thank the villagers. After all, if they hadn’t sent him away, he’d never have met Matt. And if he hadn’t met Matt, he wasn’t sure if he could ever truly be happy. Now that he found Matt, he was sure that happiness would last.


End file.
